1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains generally to gaming systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for providing addition assurance that a player is who they claim to be by using biometric identifiers, particularly fingerprints, for player identification at gaming devices.
2. The Prior Art
High reliability player identification in a gaming environment is becoming increasingly desirable. In some gaming situations either positive identification or a signature or both are required. In the United States, an example is the occurrence of a gaming event which requires the filing of an income tax report form, currently designated by the IRS (U.S. Internal Revenue Service) as form W2G. This is currently triggered by any winning event involving more than $1200. In many higher-stakes games, this would be triggered by every winning event. Other situations where positive identification is desirable is any type of automated funds accounting or transfers and age verification.
Currently, events which trigger the use of governmental forms are handled manually. When a winning event occurs at a gaming machine that triggers the need for a W2G, the player will need to wait until an attendant comes over and enables the payout and handles any required governmental forms. For funds transfers, a player will typically need to go to a customer service counter or separate kiosk; or, a player is dependent on the use of their player tracking card (a magnetic strip card), which is easily lost or stolen, which could result in the loss of any funds associated with the magnetic strip card (player ID card).
In the case of high stakes games, every winning event requires a governmental form to be filled out in the U.S. In such cases casinos will typically assign one attendant to each high stakes player, where the attendant takes care of the incessant governmental forms. Such requirements are burdensome to all concerned, from the casino who must provide the personnel to the players who must endure a xe2x80x9chovering shadow,xe2x80x9d regardless of how unobtrusive the casino attempts to make the attendants.
For age verification, the currently used method of controlling game use is through physical access. Typically the games are in an area that is physically isolated, and an attendant checks ID for admission into the areas as a whole. Otherwise, each game or set of games must be constantly monitored by an attendant, even when no one is at the machines.
Biometric identification systems such as fingerprint readers built by AuthenTec, Inc., in Melbourne, Fla. 32902, are known. These readers may supply raw image data to a processing unit for storage and analysis, or as is typically the case with commercial products, will record and transmit fingerprint characterization data, not an image. In the later case, the fingerprint itself (an actual image) will not be permanently stored; only a numeric characterization is kept.
Prior art numeric characterization of fingerprints makes use of a fingerprint""s ridges and furrows on the surface of the finger. The uniqueness of a fingerprint can be determined by establishing a center or reference point, and characterizing the pattern of ridges, furrows, and/or other characteristics such as ridge bifurcation and/or a ridge ending points (sometimes called minutiae points) in relationship to the center point.
There are well known limitations when using fingerprint characterization data. The faster a fingerprint is read, the fewer details may be recorded (for example, establishing 40 correlation points rather than 80). In addition, the ability to read fingerprints themselves will vary depending on the condition of the skin on the finger, sweat, dirt, etc. Thus, it may be the case that a fingerprint read having 80 correlation points may produce, in a large database (over 100,000 entries), more than one match. That does not mean that the actual fingerprints are the same; rather, it means that the recorded characteristics appear to match more than one entry. This is typically not an issue in small populations or when using a small database, but will arise on occasion.
There are public and proprietary algorithms that attempt to use the data to minimize false positives and maximize correct rejections. The characterization data is stored in a database where it can be searched for matches. Typically the searches are sequential, which can result in long search times for any particular print if there are thousands to check. The amount of data kept per fingerprint also determines the search time and uniqueness of the characterization for each print.
Because of the difficulties in collecting, characterizing, storing, searching, and uniquely identifying fingerprint data (i.e., inexpensive readers may collect 40-50 characterizing points, which although reasonably good, may still only be unique to an approximate range of 1/10,000), fingerprints have not been usable as a single source of identification means in a dynamic gaming environment. Many of the issues faced by the gaming industry are not faced by other industries, which would allow the reasonable implementation of, as an example, an authentication system based on a single fingerprint for a home or office PC where there may be 1 to 10 authorized users. Such systems have tiny databases, can be relatively slow, and can be reasonably fallible (in terms of false positives) and yet meet the authentication needs of the few people and limited environment in which such a system will be used. Such systems are not suitable for situations as the gaming industry, which must meet the needs of both speed and a significantly higher degree of assurance in any particular authentication.
Thus, there is a need to provide an alternative means for player authentication having reasonably high reliability and assurance, coupled with very high authentication speed.
The present invention enables a new and exciting way of allowing players to make use of electronic funds accounts, automate the generation of certain required forms, and to verify their age in a manner that is fast, inconspicuous, can be implemented to insure privacy, and provides very high assurance to the casino or other establishment using it.
The invention uses at least two authenticators for each player, with the most common implementation using exactly two. A common use of a third authenticator is as a xe2x80x9cback-upxe2x80x9d to the second authenticator. The first authenticator may be one of many types, with a typical first authenticator being a player ID card, a voucher with a unique, encoded, and preferably encrypted numerical ID on it, a unique alphanumeric sequence, or an RFID tag. Each first authenticator that is not data itself (i.e., a PIN) has the ability to have data read from it (i.e., the data on the magnetic strip of a typical player ID card). xe2x80x9cFirst authenticator dataxe2x80x9d refers to the data that can be read from a physical first authenticator card, if such is used. To simplify word usage in this disclosure, xe2x80x9cfirst authenticatorxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cfirst authenticator dataxe2x80x9d refer to the same thing, that is, the information or data that is read from a physical item, where that physical item may be used to carry the data, or, in the case of an alpha-numeric sequence, is the data. Context makes clear if the discussion of a first authenticator is referring to a physical carrier or the data in the physical carrier or both. The second authenticator will be based on a biometric reading. The present invention may use any biometric reading, although those providing reasonably high degrees of uniqueness are clearly preferred. It is expected that at the present time, the predominant biometric used will be based on fingerprints.
A player identification database is also used, where an entry corresponding to a player comprises at least one record (typically, exactly one record), and the record has fields containing data, information, or pointers. The records have fields corresponding to a first authenticator and a second authenticator, providing authenticator data therein or pointers to authenticator data. The second authenticator will always have data that correspond to a biometric measurement. It is not required that a player release any personal information to the casino or establishment to make use of the present invention; that is one of its benefits. In many cases a player can derive even greater benefits by providing certain data to a casino or establishment, as explained below, but it is fully expected that a significant number of players and a large number of small gambling halls or locations will use anonymous identifiers (identifiers having no names associated with them). Another user of anonymous identifiers will remote gambling establishments, which allows them to carry out age confirmation without keeping a permanent record of each player. Again, there are advantages to a player providing some personal data, but it is not necessary to make use of the present invention.
A player and a casino or establishment uses the present invention in several steps. The first is to create an entry in the player identification database, which associates a first authenticator and a second authenticator. The player then goes and uses a game device. While playing or using a game device, the player will eventually take an action that will require confirmation that they are who they say they are. The player presents their first authenticator to the game device, which is used to get the associated second authenticator. The player indicates they are ready to authorize an action (an EFT transfer, a game play, to authorize a form); then, to authorize the action the player presents their second authenticator.
Remembering that the second authenticator is always biometric data, all the player has to do is use the biometric reader. In the case of fingerprints, a quick touch of a fingerprint reader does the job. The second authenticator is checked, and if the fingerprint data just read matches the fingerprint data in the second authenticator, the action is authorized and carried out. Now, as long as the player is at this game device any further authorizations will only require that the player touch a fingerprint reader. This is extremely fast and very non-obtrusive, while providing both the player and establishment a very high degree of assurance that the correct person is carrying out the actions. In one embodiment, this enables very fast and efficient W2G generationxe2x80x94currently a very annoying aspect of any higher stakes games.